Brad

I've been reading this biography by Douglas Daniels this week while I was on vacation. I've read about a third of it and while I'm enjoying it all and all and he has done a lot of work (the notes are very copious), as a former would be history professor, he makes many suppositions or assumptions that don't necessarily strike me as good scholarship. Obviously, there are gaps in the record from his early life and perhaps he has no choice but to make these assumptions. I was wondering if anybody was troubled by this in any way or what are the general feelings about this book as a whole. I know this was talked about a while ago on the BNBB but that was a long time ago.

I bought this and his singing takes a little getting used to. If you skip those tracks, it's not a bad album. Some good playing by Phil Urso and Hal Galper. Unless you're a Chet fan, I wouldn't put this at the top of my list but it's good listen. Hope that's not too wishy-washy.

Sorry about the late date on this. Just got back from vacation on Saturday and Soulstream has agreed to host the album of the week. Soulstream, take it away... B)

Regarding the Garner Mosaic, I'd read somewhere on this Board a while ago, that they had to drop the Garner project because they couldn't get the legal clearances.

Is that why I'm getting those nasty calls from somebody who says they're always lunching? :rsmile:

I just received this yesterday from Hiroshi. Haven't listened to it yet. The liner notes are all in Japanese and the price was about $45 (including shipping). Comes in a nice case, similar looking to the Miles Blackhawk case.

My feeling about this is that if you buy something like a Mosaic just for an investment, you probably shouldn't. You can never tell how or if these things will appreciate or depreciate in the future. I buy 'em for the music and usually just one set. Now, if it does, that's nice but not the reason I buy it. These kinds of collectibles are just too speculative to buy a lot of.

Any opinions on the Heath Hubbard or Cohn Sims. I saw copies of these at B.J.s for like $7 each.

Awhile ago, Gary Giddins put out a book called Rhythm-a-ning. In it he had a small section on Sonny. This is part of what he said: "10 years ago, in the middle of a relentless and largely undistiguished recording regimen including tenor-organ dates and a brief flirtation with electronic sax, Stitt made a superb album called Tune Up for Cobblestone. There isn't a rote note on it. One reason for its success was was producer Don Schlitten, who has a magical touch with bop saxophonists, and another was pianist Barry Harris, a catalyst for some of Sittt's best playing since 1957 (their 1961 "Koko" for Cadet is one of Stitt's masterpieces). Heady with success, the three returned to the studio four months later to cut Constellation, which is measure for measure probably the best LP Stitt ever made. When it tied McCoy Tyner's Sahara for first place in the Down Beat critics' poll, some colleagues were dismayed that what appeared on the surface to be an ordinary six-hour quartet date, leader plus pick-up rhythm, should win the prize from more fashionable doings. But I contine to think it was one of Down Beat's more privileged moments, recognizing a veteran player's reclaimed inspiration."

This happened to me late last year and I lost my account for more than a month. Ebay realized what was up and froze my account. It was not a fun experience. Fortunately, nothing bad happened but my account was hijacked and that wasn't fun. After I got it back, Ebay warned me that these were phony. They look very real but avoid them at all costs. At the time it was hijacked, I emailed the person who did and he actually responded to me with a "F*** you." Very nice.

Borders has a feature which I wish more retailers would have (maybe they do and I don't know): you can check their inventory for a particular item. That really saves a lot of time if you're planning to make a trip. When something new comes out, I always check to see if they have it before I go.

Thanks to Lon for picking me to select the Album of the Week for July 20 to July 26. This is probably a little premature since we only just started July but the album of the week will be Endgame Brilliance. I picked this because I wanted to pick Sonny and assume that many of you have this already. More to come later.

I picked up a couple of these last night and they don't look to be remastered, just reissued, which I suppose is better than nothing.

I went with Jefferson. Helped write the Declaration of Independence, Louisiana purchase and really our first President. Yes, there was Washington and Adams but one was Father of the Country and Adams his natural successor but Jefferson was the first President of the 19th century and really expanded what was then a little country. Actually, isn't B3er our Founding Father?

This was one of the first jazz cds I ever heard (after becoming a jazz fan) and it's a great choice. What colors and sounds!

I don't know if these got overlooked but a bunch of these were released yesterday, among them: Sonny Stitt - The Last Sessions Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - The Heavy Hitter Houston Person - Talk of the Town Cedar Walton - Naima: Night at Boomers David Newman - Lone Star Legend Jack McDuff - Another Real Good'un Sonny Criss - Crisscraft I have the Criss and the Stitt (I hope to be that good at my job before I go as he was on these) and am going to get the Newman. Any views on the others?

I picked up a few of the Roulettes. The Baker I picked up principally for Phil Urso, who is way underrated. This was a worthy pickup. The only criticism I have are the Chet Baker vocals. They take a bit getting used to but I suppose are mildly inoffensive. I find his falsetto type of singing odd but this is my first experience with it. However, the whole group is strong. Besides Urso, Galper deserves special praise, IMHO. The Dameron arrangements are very, very good. I also picked up the Jimmy Rushing. If you like someone belting out the songs, this is worth it. There's some soloing instrumentations but Mr. Five By Five is obviously the star here. Another good reissue.

Not that my wife might be the perfect model here, but she has a limited appetite for jazz but enjoys anything that is melody based or is relaxed swing. I'd recommend starting out with some Ellington, perhaps a best of kind of cd. I think KOB might be a little too much. Actually, not a bad place to start would be of one of those Ken Burns Jazz show sampler. If you can get her to be more adventurous, my wife liked Trane's My Favorite Things. After that, who know. Hope this is helpful.

I've tried to grab as many James Clay as I can and haven't heard a bad one yet. Both Antilles are good although "Cooking" is better. BTW, he's on one of the cuts on the Rein de Graaff cd Now is the Time from Timeless that's distributed by Stateside. Good cd, incidentally. I remember from the old Board that Jim knew him and had posted some reminiscences abut him. I'd hate to ask him to do it again but if he has time time, maybe he could.

While it's nice to know that the Keynotes are "limping" along, that doesn't sound very encouraging and the likelihood of that ever coming out sounds as bad as before.

I have to take a general exception to the comment made about the Proper sets. They are a very affordable way to get a lot of music, some of which is unavailable elsewhere and a very good introduction to a particular artist. The Keynotes on the Coleman Hawkins are not that easy to get, even if you have a turntable. They're a stepping stone and a damn good one in my opinion. They're by no means the be all and end all but the booklets are quite well done. The sound is decent, no better and probably no worse thant the original. If you don't have a lot of Lester or a turntable and you're not sure how to go, these are a good jumping off point.

I'm sort of on the Dan Gould side. I'm much closer musically to Gene Harris than Andrew Hill and I'd describe myself much more in the school of Bud Powell, Sonny Clark and Wynton Kelly. I'm closer to that school. He doesn't do much for me. So, if I had to rank the pianists, he wouldn't be up there but after a couple of listenings I did enjoy Grass Roots and I'll take a chance on the reissue that's coming out later this year. Just because others may feel differently, you shouldn't let that affect how you feel about him.

Well, looks like I'm the only one who voted for Sir Charles. I bow (humbly) to the will of the majority. I only have only one cd by Charles Kynard but a good one, Soul Brotherhood that came out a couple of years ago.

That's why, if you can, you try to buy a house!

Yowza, I think I'm feeling feverish today